:Creativity is an open problem which has been differently approached by severaldisciplinessincealong time. In this contribution we consider as

creative

the

constructivist

designanobserver does on the description levels of complex phenomena, such as the self-organized andemergent ones( e.g., Bènard rollers,Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions,flocks, swarms, and moreradical cognitive and social emergences). We consider this design as related to the

Gestaltian

creation of a language fit for representing natural processes

and

the observer

in an integrated

way.

Organised systems, both artificialand most of the natural ones aredesigned/ modelled accordingto a

logical closed model

which masters

all

the inter-relation between their constitutive elements,and which can be described by an algorithm or a single formal model.We will show there that

logical openness

and DYSAM (Dynamical Usage of Models) arethe proper tools for those

phenomenawhich

cannot be

described by algorithms or by a single formal model. The strong

correlation between emergence and creativity suggests that an

open model

is the best way toprovide a formal definition of creativity.A specific application relates to the possibility to shape the

emergence of Collective Behaviours.Different modelling approaches have been introduced, basedon symbolic as well as sub-symbolic rules of interaction to

simulate

collective phenomena bymeans of computational emergence. Another approach is based on modelling collective phenomenaas sequences of Multiple Systems established by percentages of conceptually interchangeableagents taking on the

same roles at different times and different roles at the same time

. In the

Meta-Structures

project we proposeto use mesoscopic variables as creative design, invention, goodcontinuity and imitation of the description level.In the project we propose to define thecoherenceof sequences of Multiple Systemsby usingthe values taken on by the dynamic mesoscopic clustersof its constitutiveelements, such as

the instantaneous number of elements having, in a flock, the

same

speed, distance from their nearest neighbours, direction and altitude. In Meta-Structures thecollective behaviour’s coherencecorresponds, for instance,to the scalar values taken byspeed,distance, direction and altitudealongtime,through statistical strategies of interpolation, quasi-periodicity, levels of ergodicity andtheir reciprocal relationship.In this case the constructivist roleof the observer is considered

creative

as it relates to

neither non-linear replication

nor

transposition

of levels of description and modelsused for artificial systems, like reductionism. Creativityratherlies in

inventing

new mesoscopic variablesable to identify coherent patterns in complex systems.As it is known, mesoscopicvariables representpartial macroscopic properties of a system by usingsome of the microscopic degrees of freedom possessed by composing elements. Such partial usageof microscopic as well as macroscopic properties allows a kindof Gestaltian continuity andimitationbetween levels of descriptions for mesoscopic modelling.Key-words: constructivist design, complex systems, dynamical usage of models, emergence, logicalopenness,mesoscopic variables, meta-structure

2Introduction1.Creativity and Emergence1.1 The good-continuation principle, the Bongard’s Problems (BP) and “imitation principles”1.2 Logical openness1.3 Dynamic Usage of Models2. Introduction to the Meta-Structures project2.1 The concept of Meta-Structure2.2 The project2.3 Creativity as design of suitable mesoscopic level of description.2.4 Creativity as design, invention, good continuity and imitation, of the level of description3. Generalising the approachConclusionsReferencesWeb Resources

Introduction

The observer’s cognitive system, -dynamic memory, image processing, high cognitive skills forinput representations -, carries out a plurality of choices in the world description.It leads to the creation of languages to describe the possible representation states. In particular, inthe scientific description of the Nature it is necessary to choose the proper description level as wellas the significant variables in order to outline the behaviors of the system under consideration.Such kind of languages are thus a bridge between theory and praxis, a mind-world cognitiveisomorphismaccording to Gestalt principles. For example,Bongard proposedanapproach to

visual pattern recognition

where choosinga suitable language makes possible speaking about anddescribing an object (Arnheim,1997; Bongard, 1970). Actions and rules effectively used in theworld of the observer are used to carry out cognitive models.Our approach is close to those introduced to model and simulate creativity (Creativity Machines andImagitron:Holmes,1996; Thaler, 1996a; 1996b,1994; 2005), witha further effort in the direction of intrinsic emergent phenomena (Licata, 2008a).The designing of intrinsically non observer-related erratic devices is a typical problem which can behandled by Meta-Structures(Minati, 2008a; 2009) and in dissipative quantum model of the brain(Vitiello, 2001; Minati and Vitiello, 2006).Differently from some disciplinary usages like in physics and logics, we will use the term

coherence

with the meaning of

detecting emergence

in collective interactions asthe invariantproperties inflocks and swarms.In other words, cognitive activity responds to the emergent patterns of coherence by constructivedesigning, so drawing out a shape from the world’s noise and entropy.

1. Creativity and Emergence

The problem to model creativity is a problem deeply connected to one of the central researchtopic of current research, i.e., emergence. Usually creativity is conceived as the ability to makeemerging unusual cognitive strategies to deal with the complexity of the relation observer-observed.It is well-known how processes of emergence may be classified in two huge categories:a)Computational emergence, completely describable bya single formal model andby analgorithm;b)Intrinsic or radical emergence,non describable by a single formal model because of thedynamical complexity of interactions between system and environment.The latter, contrary to what generally assumed, is the simplest and mostdiffused in nature, e.g.,phase transitions,folding protein , cognition,socio-economic processes,and so on, see, for instance,

3(Licata, 2009).So, the problem of scientifically describing creativity finds its proper formulationwithin the approach to emergence. In particular, the key question is: once aprocess of intrinsicemergence-unforeseeable on the basis of any available model-has occurred, how can we analyse it,even partially, by computational tools? (Licata, 2008b).Let’s note that old Artificial Intelligence had tried and fared poorly in reducingcreativity to an“algorithmicmachinery”. What we are going to propose here is totally different. Without takinginto consideration all the creativity aspects, we will focus on a specific problem: to fix the suitablevariables in order to describe some significant features of highly complex systems.One of the greatest successesof theoretical physics at the end of the eighthcenturieswas theability to find a connection between the microscopic and macroscopic representations of perfectgases thanks to the contributions introduced by Boltzmann, Maxwell andGibbs.The study of mesoscopic systems was found much more difficult, because it is not always possible theidentification of significant variables related to the dynamics of the

Middle Way

(Lauglin & Pines,1999; Laughlin

et al.

, 2000).In this case the more suitable cognitive strategy is to find step by step,on different spatial and temporal scales,theparameters able to allow a coherent representationof global aspects of the system.In this conceptual framework the term ‘coherent’ takes ona formalmeaning only after the observer has selected adescriptionlevel. In this sense the Meta-Structuresprojectdefines an approachto creativity based on the updating of models for complex systems asbased on the cognitive design performedby the observerupdating models used for complexsystems.

One the difficult and traditional problemin understanding the dynamic observer-observedrelationship liesin the

naïve

realism,which is to say the idea that the world with its laws andproperties already exists “out there”.AsEinstein wrote: “theories are under-determined by experimental data;they are, rather,a freecreation of human mind”.A deep analysis of such a kind of cognitive processes has been historically approached by theGestalttradition(Guberman, 2005).“The “good continuation” principle –one of the basic principles of Gestaltpsychology –assumes that perception of a drawing includesthe imaginableprocess of recreating (or imitating) the drawing(Guberman and Minati, 2007,p.121).…Imitating the way the drawing was created is a right thing to do when lookingfor a short and sensible description. …(Guberman and Minati, 2007, p.122).…From all potentially possible partitions of the whole such set of parts has to bepreferred, which has the

simplest description

. The simplicity of the descriptionreflects 1) the number of parts (the less is the number the simpler is thedescription), 2) the relations between the parts (touching, crossing, above, to theright), and 3) the simplicity of description of each of the parts…(Guberman andMinati, 2007, p.121).…In the process of perception we understand not only the right partition of theobjectbut also how successive parts should follow one another(Guberman andMinati, 2007, p.123).…Many facts support the idea that a character is not only an

image pattern

butalso a

movement pattern

….(Guberman and Minati, 2007, p.130).”In cognitive sciencethe

Bongard Problems

are problems on

visual pattern recognition

and firstappeared in the appendix of a book published by the Russian scientist M. M. Bongard in 1967